


Sharing Lunch

by maat_seshat



Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-26
Updated: 2009-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-20 08:17:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17019072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maat_seshat/pseuds/maat_seshat
Summary: Shuurei is too cheerful for this place.





	Sharing Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> Written for imanewme, on LJ's Saiunkoku_fic exchange.
> 
> "Kou" is Kouyuu's name pre-adoption.

Kou sees her walking down the street swinging a wrapped parcel and immediately looks elsewhere. She's too small and too cheerful, and he doesn't want to attract her attention. He doesn't want to attract her attention at all, so he keeps his gaze very carefully on his prizes, shuffles the tickets, puts them in their box, and nudges the lid straight again.

He knows that it's useless, though, when he hears her pattering feet approaching. Her pink skirt swings into view first, set to swaying by the force of her skips. Finally, he looks up to demand, "Do you want to play?" He thrusts the box between them. It makes a good shield.

She sits neatly on the ground in front of his display cloth, sweeping her skirt under her knees and ankles. Then she cocks her head thoughtfully. Kou watches her braids slide against her shoulders rather than look at her face. "How do you play?"

Kou huffs, and tries to make his voice say really clearly that she's an idiot. "You take a ticket out of the box, and if you win, you take one of these prizes."

She doesn't move, just keeps her hands clasped together on her package. "What about you? Do you get a ticket, too?"

"No."

She pouts, just a little. "Oh. It's not any fun taking things without sharing them." She looks down for a moment, then brightens. "I know! Do you want to share lunch? Okaasan's onigiri are very tasty."

Kou stares at her. "If you're not going to play," he says finally, "you should go. You don't want to attract too much attention here."

She doesn't even look at him, too busy fiddling with the ties on her little paper bundle--her lunch, he realizes now. "Oh, I'm sure it's okay," she says firmly. "I go to school down the street. Don't you go to school?"

He can't do anything except watch her for a few minutes, long enough for her to untangle the knot and start unfolding the paper. "No," he repeats. "No, I don't go to school, and I don't want your lunch--" His stomach gurgles a lie to that, but he keeps going, knowing that he's getting louder, and that will definitely attract the wrong attention, but he can't help himself, because she's just so impossibly determined. "And I want you to go back to school right now, and _leave me a_ \--mmph."

She pops a small riceball in his mouth when he opens it to shout at her more loudly, and he has to automatically chew and swallow. "They're good, aren't they?" she says brightly. "Okaasan says that she'll show me how to make them soon. I gave you the plum one. You like plums, right?"

She waits expectantly while he finishes swallowing. "Yes," he says finally, grudgingly. "They're good."

"Oh, I'm glad! Here." She rips the paper in half and divides up the riceballs, two on each half. "That's a fish one, and another plum one," she adds, pointing to each.

Kou looks between her and the food, feeling frustrated and a little helpless. "Okay." He picks up the fish riceball and bites off half of it. She grins at him and bites off half of her own. She eats fast, too, so he bolts the food down before anyone else comes to take it. He's licking his fingers clean of any spare grains when her small hand darts in once more and leaves behind something else. A manju bun this time.

"For dessert," she explains.

He opens his mouth to object again, then sighs and picks up the manju. She bounces a little where she's sitting as she picks up her own. She opens her mouth to speak, when over her shoulder something catches Kou's eye. He's not sure what it is, but there's a man walking down the street in their direction, and he looks wrong. Something stirs in his memory, and Kou says again, "You need to go to school."

This time she listens. Her face goes solemn, and if he misses her smile, he ignores it. "I will," she promises. "Eat the manju, please?"

"Yes," he agrees.

She bows to him, oddly formal now, and leaves, skipping more purposefully now. Kou stuffs the manju in his mouth, then puts his head down, hoping that the man hasn't noticed him. He'll have to find a new spot, now, and he'll probably never see the girl again, but he doesn't watch her go. Maybe he will.


End file.
